Scorpions

From a friend in Bisbee, AZ: “It’s been the worst year for scorpions either of us have seen. I got stung, a year and a half ago… my first time. I was picking up some scrap wood in the garden shed, and BAM, the little bugger was under a piece of wood. Classic scorpion story, and 24 hours later, I was fine. Taylor had never been stung, either, but some time in April, under the covers, she moved, and one got her on her leg, three stings. She jerked away, which sent it on to my leg, where it hit twice. I threw the covers down, found it, swished it onto the floor, and hit it with my shoe. Three rattlesnakes later (out by our cat cage…one got away, but the next two didn’t), we have found scorpions in every room of the house. On walls, on rugs, under blankets, coming out of sink drains, two in light fixtures! (cooked to death). So four nights ago, another one got Taylor, under the covers, on her belly. She jerked her arm, and… near as we could count, we found five or six stings on the end of her thumb.

I had trapped one, coming out of the sink drain, by closing the stopper on its arm. Its tail went into machine gun mode, and hit the stopper ten times in a second…so that seems to be how they react to being trapped.”

Bay Area, 2:30 p.m.

You’ve seen all of the fire photos. This one is from my friend Mr. Wolf. “Now we’re wearing masks to filter out the ash. Everything looks like it has a very light dusting of snow. Our AQI fluctuates between 80 and 250. 250 is world class bad, like Mumbai etc. But because it’s all fairly heavy particulate just staying indoors with everything closed up is very effective.

Social distancing California style

My buddy Grayson Wolf and his wife Larisa loaded up his 1967 Unimog 404 and drove up into the Sierras for a little break from the pandemic. (More photos here)

Two things in the photo below caught my eye: the well-stocked bar and what looks like a picnic table in the back of the vehicle. Grayson explains:

“It is essential to make six-ingredient cocktails when you’re camping next to a three ton military truck, right?

And that “picnic table?”

A German beer hall table, to be precise, and it is bolted to the bed. Nice place to eat our meals.”

Okay, three things. Grayson has brought back the mohawk.

Life goes on!

RP’s Saudi Arabia Adventure

Sometime after Richard Peck‘s abbreviated and tumultuous stint in the U.S. Air Force, he signed on with an overseas construction outfit to work in Saudi Arabia. As I recall, he had to sign a two-year contract but he didn’t last the full two years. Allan Johnson recently unearthed a couple of Richard’s letters from that time (1977). One to John Robison and one to Allan Johnson and me. Vintage RP.

HBO Intro (1983)


Lots of folks reading this weren’t born in 1972 when HBO launched. Hard to explain why it was such a big deal. If you wanted to watch a movie on TV back then, you waited for one of the networks’ “Movie of the Week” or something from a local affiliate. A cable channel that just showed movies (in those days) was a big deal. Met with a lot of skepticism (“Why would you pay for movies when you can get them for free?!”)

In 1983 HBO introduced a new logo that was revolutionary for the time. I share it because one of the people who worked on it (David Bruce) was from my little town. He did the Stargate effect which would be no big deal when computer generated graphics came along but was very cool in 1983.

Funny and fast

Barb and I were in DC in 2009 and during a cab ride back to our hotel, we struck up a conversation with the driver and asked about celebrities-he-has-driven. His list included: Telly Savalas, Senator James Lugar and the Reverend Jesse Jackson.

I came across this old post tonight and found this an amusing group of names and shared it with my friend David. Our chat thread (from earlier this evening):

My point here is that genuinely funny people like David are funny fast. They’re quick. And, yes, I realize you have no idea who Telly Savalas is or Carnac the Magnificent.

David Brazeal

A plague is upon us and I have hunkered down (a word one gets to use so infrequently). I’ve been using the time at home to call/text old friends, like David Brazeal. David almost certainly the most amusing person I know. Perhaps droll would be a better word for David. From just one short iMessage exchange:

The biggest hardship right now is that all my usual hypochondria, normally spread out over my entire body, is not centered in my chest and lung area.

This has also been good for me to discover which businesses still have my email address from a purchase I made 7 years ago. I am fully informed of the COVID-19 response plans of every business with which I have interacted since about 2010.

I have seriously neglected my hunting and gathering skills for 50 years.

David’s bon mots have shown up in my post often enough to deserve their own tag.

Civil War era log cabin

While visiting Paul Bandelier this week, he showed me the original home his ancestors built when they came to the U.S. from Switzerland (circa 1867).

The top photo is the front of the structure, the bottom the rear. Paul explained it was built as two log cabins with the entryway between. I’ve asked Paul for more information and will update post.